Brazil facts & history in
brief
Amazon Jungle facts & history in brief
The Amazon River facts & history in brief
Manaus facts & history in brief
The Amazon River is the second longest river
(Only to the Nile), in the world and the longest and
largest river of South America.
The river is 6,437 kilometres long, and carries more
water than any other river, even more than the Mississippi,
Nile, and Yangtze rivers together.
The river is 2.5 to 10 kilometres wide during most of
its course.
At some points it is too wide for a person on one bank
to see the opposite shore.
It widens to about 150 kilometres at its mouth.
The depth of the Amazon averages about 10 metres and
increases to more than 90 metres at some places.
The Amazon rain forest has a great variety of plant
life.
Scientists have found more than 3,000 species of plants
in 2.5 square kilometres there.
The trees stand as tall as 60 metres.
Their tops grow so close together that only a little
sunlight can reach the ground.
Manaus on the Rio Negro River, not far from where
it merges with the great Amazon River was another place
we've arrived in the middle of the night.
Our negotiations with the tour operators taken some
time and after that it didn't seem to be much point
to search for a hotel, so we waited for the tour at
the Airport.
Our tour included the sightseeing of Manaus city, the
Rivers Amazon and Negro, their merging down stream,
exploration of the nearby Amazon 'rainforest' or 'jungle',
fishing and meeting some of the local indigenous people.
Our guide 'Jumbo" was a jovial 'welllll-built'
fellow, who's agility often surprised us.
We were assured to see lot of 'wildlife', such as crocodiles,
monkeys, iguanas, birds and piranhas. As you've probably
guessed, it wasn't the day or we weren't the people
to see a lot of 'wildlife', although it wasn't for a
lack of trying.
We did catch some piranhas.
Jumbo and our boatman did spend three hours after sunset
showing their torches around looking for the shining
eyes of the crocks in the pitch dark jungle. Of course
no one told the crocks, that we were looking for them,
or they were pre-warned of our coming and just didn't
want to be seen by us.
We did enjoy our trip in the Amazon 'jungle'.
We did see the confluence of the two great rivers and
the remarkable different colours of the rivers, which
takes ten kilometres to mix and merge completely.
Jumbo agreed to a very reasonable price for the tour,
but in the end got even with us.
Coming ashore after our tour, he hailed a taxi to the
Airport and made us pay half the fare.
A bit disappointing, but it was a thoroughly enjoyable
and memorable day.
You can click on
these photos for an enlargement.
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| Our
Guide, Jumbo |
The
2 river's
colour |
"Luxury"
Sightseeing |
The
local cafe |
The
"Past" |
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 |
 |
 |
"Water
front
properties"
House "on"
running water |
A boat
like ours |
Lunch
time
rendezvous |
More
estates with
water view
With wet feet |
Local
wildlife
I had to pay
for the shot |
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